By Laurie Coker
Rating: D-
When Kick Ass premiered at SXSW a couple of years ago, it surprised me. I never thought I would get in to such a wild, farfetched film, but I did – for good reason. The story, the cast, the excitement of SXSW all worked to enhance the experience and it was FUN and unique. But I expected little from a sequel and got just that. Kick Ass 2 is a blend of action film, after school special, Mean Girls and buddy comedy all of which never click with the audience, and it simply doesn’t work. While my guest (a man who likes this sort of dribble) chuckled by my side, I sat bored, waiting for it to end.
Kick Ass 2 picks up sometime after the original, Big Daddy is dead, Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) and Kick Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) attend the same high school, he a senior and her a freshman and Hit Girl lives with her daddy’s best friend (Morris Chestnut), who wants her to be a normal teen, while she longs to kick bad guy ass. Meanwhile, Chris Del Marco (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), still stinging from the death of his father at the hands of Kick Ass, plots to gather as many evil villains as he can and bring his nemesis down. Joined by other wannabe super heroes – a ridiculous blend of suburban parents, nerds and ex-military special ops – Hit Girl and Kick Ass, try to protect themselves and the city.
I wish I had something good to say about Kick Ass 2, but I really don’t Hit Girl encounters and butts head with mean high school girls, gets hazed and teased and Kick Ass gets beat up repeatedly. Additions to the cast, especially Jim Carey, simply annoyed me and I could hardly watch Mintz-Plasse this time; his character is beyond absurd. What worked in the first film falls flat in this seque,l and the violence and silly bloodbaths make it all the more intolerable. I am placing a D- in my grade book. Even Moretz, now a teen, can’t save this film and she stole the show in the first.